The Cycle: Repentance
by TheStrangerAlice
Summary: There was an ending that never truly ended the story. Questions that haven't been answered. Love that hasn't been told. Curses that haven't been broken. A cycle must be stopped before it repeats itself for eternity. Let's start again with "Once Upon A Time"... Chapter 3 is here. R
1. The Fate's Game

**THE CYCLE**

Chapter 1: The Fate's Game

* * *

"She was heartbroken for she could not speak of her love and turned into foams in the sea just as the prince sworn to marry another."

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a duck that had fallen in love with a prince with no heart that danced beside her pond everyday. With doll-like perfection etched on his face, he seemed emotionless. Yet the duck, being the observant she was, could see the torture, the pain and the loneliness inside the prince's golden eyes, making her wished to be able to see him smile and be by his side forever. She would give anything to make it came true.

One day, she was granted a human body and a magical necklace that could turn her into a beautiful princess. So she helped the prince gathered pieces of his heart with this power; hoping that one day she could see him smile at her. Jealousy, loneliness, sadness, fear, curiosity, devotion. With each piece of his heart, she grew to love him more and more. She thought she was able to see from the glimpses that those shards had shown her, the person he was; she thought the prince loved her with each piece of his broken heart that returned to him. She thought that she would be able to have her wishes after all.

Unfortunately, her destiny had already written long before; a most tragic end was prepared in a storybook. And then, the knight came, trying to stop her from giving back the prince's heart, so that there wouldn't be any end to the story. The duck refused to stop, she couldn't let her prince back to what he had been. As the story progressed, the knight should had been the first victim of the storybook, but the duck who never gave up tried to help the knight to change his fate. The knight then turned into the author, acquiring the ability to write his own story. The death that had been anticipated passed, leaving both even more determined to be something more than storybook characters without any ability to change fate.

By the point the prince's heart was half-complete; it was corrupted by the Raven's blood, the evil creature who desired chaos and domination. The prince was no longer a doll, but an insane villain, ordered to seek a pure heart to be sacrificed for the Raven. His golden eyes turned purple, his kindest turned into malice, his tentative smile turned into maniacal laughter. The duck couldn't reach him, she tried and tried, only to see glimpses of gold that turned back to purple within minutes.

At this time, the corrupted prince stayed with the raven's daughter who insisted that she loved him. She was the one whose duty to keep the prince's heart tainted with her father's blood within each day of the corrupted prince's attempts to create suffering for owners of pure heart. Attempts, because he was always stopped by the duck who always knew how to calm those hearts before they were tainted and taken from them. The raven's daughter was sure a beautiful brunette with dancing talent that far surpassed the duck and elegance that couldn't even be possessed by every royals making her a perfect princess if not for her black heart. Despite everything, the duck still admired the princess and wanted to befriend her. So pure was her heart that she desired happy ending for everyone.

Yet such ending couldn't be attained without sacrifice.

Even with the author's ability, some things couldn't be changed. The previous author of their story already prepared the twist ever since the beginning of their story, ever since he gave his gift to the duck: the magical necklace. He gave the characters their own freedom; yes, but he also decided what the consequences behind every actions.

They did not know it, not the duck, not the prince, not the author. No one.

They couldn't change something that they did not know.

The duck's heart would break if the prince couldn't get pass his test.

The prince's heart along with the all of the citizen's hearts would be taken if the duck couldn't get pass her test.

One of them did not.

The swan prince and the duck would be separated again.

At the final battle, as the prince stood tall, freed from the raven's magic, he declared that he chose the black princess over her, the one who had helped him becoming himself, the one who had to refrain her feelings to be able to save him by always being by his side, the one who sacrificed everything she held precious for him even her human heart. Just because the black princess had been there before her, just because the black princess could say she loved him without fear of vanishing and could break the raven's hold on the prince, just because suddenly she turned out to be the victim of raven who needed to be saved by the prince.

Even the purest heart could break.

With a smile to cover the pouring blood from her bleeding heart, she gave away her existence that the prince asked of her to save "his princess". They were the last parts of his heart: Hope, Love, and Happiness. He didn't know. No, if he did know he wouldn't have the heart to ask her. He was too gentle, too kind, he wanted to save everyone. He was just like her. That was why she gave it to him, her very life, while saying goodbye to the prince for she knew her tiny duck heart couldn't handle meeting him again after this. As the yellow light engulfed her, she turned back into a duck.

Shock and horror of what he had done were evident in the prince's face. He just realized what he had been asking of her; that his ignorance turned out to be the cruelest thing for the duck. The three pieces of his heart from her did not help to ease his heart, they did the exact opposite. He had not known the meaning of love before , he had not had the piece of his heart to recognize love. At the time he knew who she was and what she was to him, he had already said he wanted to make the raven's daughter his princess; he had promised himself to another. He had thought his desire to save her, to ease her pain had been love.

He had chosen, and he chose the wrong princess.

He almost faltered on his knees there and then with his hands trying to reach Her.

Yet the duck gave him a weak nod of approval to go to his battle, the one he entered to save another princess.

No, she was not just duck, she was his princess - his beloved princess that he had abandoned and cursed forever with his heart's rashness.

The prince went to save his chosen princess with heavy heart. So heavy with feelings that at one point he almost decided to give up and shatter his heart once more to seal the raven.

But then she danced.

To save the prince who no longer hers to have, to ensure happy ending for everyone else, to say what she may not say in words. Not as the princess she could transform to, not as a clumsy human girl she had been given chance to be, but as what she really was. A duck.

I love you.

Seeing his rightful princess, dancing proudly even with each falls in her tiny duck steps, reminded him of the sacrifices that couldn't be undone; of reasons to fight and win;

And of the power of love.

The raven was slain. The prince saved the princess. The people were freed.

They lived happily ever after.

.

.

Or did they?

The duck was back into her pond, with nothing to do except feeling for each crack in her broken heart everyday.

She didn't want her heart to be more stained than it was.

But the pain didn't stop.

She suddenly understood the reason for the ending, her ending.

In the time when she had been a human girl, she had read books.

One of them told her a story about a mermaid who exchanged her voice for a pair of legs because she had fallen in love with a human prince.

She remembered the ending.

The author promised that he would always be there with the duck. So she asked him to write her a story that could give her a chance to be the princess she used to be, just for one night. She was lucky that the author understood her, even without saying a word. The author, who pitied and loved her at the same time, granted her her wish.

Her last wish.

That night she kissed the author goodbye when he was asleep. She left a letter on the table with a white feather. She wanted him to be happy, because he was the only one who stayed with her until the end. The one who dared to show that he loved her and the one she might be able to learn to love in return if she stayed.

But she couldn't stay.

Not with her ugly broken heart that secretly wished for suffering of the one who caused it.

Her prince. No, not her prince, the prince.

He did not choose her.

He was not hers.

Never would be.

With her borrowed power, she went to his castle. It was past midnight and the moon shone brightly with a hint of red. Seeing this, she could only think of one thing:

Tainted

She stood in front of their room, she was too afraid to enter and to see behind the closed doors. She wanted to stop the suffering. Stop! Not to prolong it! She was afraid of becoming selfish and jealous. She only wanted others to be happy...right? Her suffering was nothing compared to their happiness. She was only a duck after all. Small, weak, insignificant duck; yet she had one pride that she needed to be able to survive, to stand tall against everything:

Her pure heart.

So she called out to him in his dream, asking him to wake up and meet her at the roof of his castle.

**_A voice is calling to me…_**

At last...

And there she was, sitting under the moonlight looked just like she had always been. She remained the same, unchanged; his princess, his first white princess, his tragic princess. She had been calling him in his dream, he had thought she didn't want to see him anymore; he had thought she wouldn't be able to forgive him for what he had done to her; he had thought he couldn't see her like this anymore: the flutter of her long eyelashes, her sunset shaded hair, her sweet pair of lips, her fragile looking hands, her small feet clad in pink toe shoes, her blue eyes, her smile... He was drinking her in greedily with his eyes, still didn't believe that she was there with him.

**_Now I open up my eyes_**

"Come, sit with me." She said softly with a soft smile playing on her lips.

He walked closer to her and sat down next to her. They just sat there while watching the moon, enjoying the peacefulness that they could only have when they were together.

Suddenly she leaned in to him, her head on his shoulder, her eyes still on the moon and then she asked quietly, softly:

"Are you happy now?

It was a question that he couldn't answer with negative for he knew his white princess wished for his happiness more than anything. He couldn't tell how guilty he felt for abandoning her, his beloved princess just because he thought the other princess suffered too greatly to be left alone; never knowing that she, too, had suffered for him. The difference was just that she never told him anything, never asked for anything, always being his selfless princess, his savior, always doing everything that he asked of her, sacrificing everything she had for him. He hadn't known her pain and suffering until it was all too late to turn back. He hadn't known the depth of her love for him or his love for her, until he was already way past point of no return to come back to her side.

So he pretended that now that she asked was really "now" with her besides him, just the two of them. He put his arms around her and answered.

"Yes, I am happy now"

She closed her eyes, nestled her body more comfortably to his embrace and said

"I am glad."

She too pretended that he meant "now" with her by his side, just the two of them.

"Are you happy there?" Now it was his turn to ask.

**_Wipe the tears from my face…_**

She smiled a little while looking at the floor, momentarily silenced and said "Fakir has been kind to me, he visits me everyday in my pond and he has been taking really good care of me... he reads to me and talks to me, he put me inside his house when it rains and feed me some bread once in a while."

"...You are not answering my question. Are you happy there?" he needed to know, no matter how painful her answer might be to his ears, he was the one responsible for it.

She closed her eyes now "As happy as a duck can be, he even granted my wish to be Princess Tutu for a night."

She still evaded his question, but he let her for now. His curiosity got the better of him."Why only one night?"

Now she turned her eyes to him while smiling a little bit restrained, sad.

"Because it is all that I need."

**_A brilliant light and the dew on the trees…is born…_**

Before he could think the meaning behind her answer, suddenly she stood and did the

motion of hands that he already knew too well.

"Will you dance with me?"

**_At the secret place by the waterside that no ones knows about…_**

And they danced, pretending they were not where they were but in the place that they both knew well, in the time when he had not been what he was now and she had not been what she was now. No obligations, no burden, nothing. Just two souls that loved each other so deeply in their peaceful time, without anyone or anything to separate them. Trying to convey to each other what they felt into their dance, without any words. For they had been cursed with words.

The last Pas De Deux.

_Dance the pas de deux of life…_

As their dance came to the end, they gazed at each other; searching what they needed to find in the eyes of the other. As they found what they were searching for, she began to speak.

"I am happy here now." Her voice trembled with tears in her eyes.

**_…and I'm dreaming again today._**

Seeing her tears flowing freely from her sapphire eyes with an honest smile on her lips, he had the urge to run away to the place where they could be one and never be separated again, but he knew he couldn't for he was the prince and he had chosen his princess, and it was not her; so now he had to deal with the consequences of his choice. He embraced her tightly to his body

"I am sorry, I am sorry. Please forgive me, Tutu."

Tears started to leak out from his golden eyes for the pain was too much after the taste of what could had been.

She embraced his trembling body in return with her hands fisted a bit too tightly, her head down.

"I wish I could."

She mumbled so softly in his embrace. She didn't want him to hear it. Not even a word.

**_So I find myself gently…_**

After they both had calmed down, still tightly joined in the bittersweet embrace, she looked up into the sky and said

"It will be dawn soon."

"My time is up."

She looked into his beautiful golden eyes, her prince's eyes.

He was her prince tonight, only hers.

Even if he only had done everything due to his kindness or guilt, she could pretend he loved her and only her.

She did see love in his eyes after all, only that his love would not be reserved for her.

She thought his love for her wouldn't hold a candle to his love for his bride.

'At least for tonight, let me pretend that he only loves me and loves me the most.'

**_…drifting in a tempestuous current._**

She thought wrong, but no one told her that. Not even her prince.

Her prince said sorry but he never said the word she would give her soul to hear.

Her sweet unforgivable prince.

Now was the time for his punishment, the only time she would punish him.

She was almost too afraid that he would find it too much to bear. Almost.

But she had to, for her pure heart would be corrupted in the darkest emotions if she didn't do it.

He treasured her pure heart.

So she wouldn't let it be tainted. No more.

'He has his bride, he will get over it. For love will give him strength to live on.'

At the moment, she didn't have the will to hate, to be jealous of the chosen princess.

She was pure once more.

So with that she let her lips touch her beloved's lips.

The first and the last kiss.

**_Just how far will this labyrinth take me…_**

He kissed her softly, tentatively at first as he closed his eyes, trying to pour his heart that she had returned to him one by one into the kiss. Feeling her soft lips on his, accepting her love and giving his in return. He showed her his desperation, his regret, his desire and his love for her as he deepened the kiss. It was their first kiss, the very first one. They hadn't kissed like this a lifetime ago, he would had remembered if they had. Such sensation of loving and being loved in return wouldn't be able to be forgotten even with his memories locked like before.

His real princess. The first and should had been the only if he had not been cheated by his own heart.

She understood his kiss, she only did not know she was the only one who could give him strength through her love, that there was no other. Not even the bride.

Had she known it, she would had stayed, for him. Even only as a duck, even if she had to see them together everyday, even if she could not be with him the way she wanted to for she loved him with all of her existence.

So she kissed him back like there was no tomorrow.

And there wasn't. At least not for her. She could not even see the sun rise with him.

'Sadly this is not a story where a kiss could break a curse.'

As they reluctantly ended the kiss, she whispered her last words right besides his ear.

"She was heartbroken for she could not speak of her love and turned into foams in the sea just as the prince sworn to marry another."

He pushed her back abruptly at the arm's length, hands tightly clenched on her shoulders. His eyes turned to her tearful ones, wide with panic, confusion and even a tint of madness from his raven blood as she said the three forbidden words, the cursed words that separated them from being together at the first place a hundred years ago and now forever.

**_I'll go along, and hold on tightly to this dream…_**

A flash of blinding golden light and she vanished.

He stared.

And stared.

At the place where she had been, at the arms that had been holding her to him, at the hands that had been caressing her softly.

She had been here.

She was gone.

Forever.

He never told her that he loved her too.

He couldn't see her when he missed her, he couldn't talk to her when he needed her, he couldn't hold her when he wanted to be with her, not even as a duck, not even for a second, not even for a glimpse. Not anymore.

And it was his fault.

For not being able to follow his heart.

For wanting to be noble and selfless.

For being ignorant to her cries of pain.

His brain couldn't process what had happened.

His soul refused to accept the reality

And his heart...his heart simply crying

He fell on his knees.

Tears fell on his face like a child's.

Screaming to the rising sun, asking why she had to be the one who vanished, why not him. Why.

He asked for death, for a repentance, for a way out of the pain.

He yelled to god, to the writer of their story, to fate, to the devil.

At the end of the night, he laid still like a puppet.

His heart was broken into pieces once more.

But there wouldn't be anyone to make it whole again.

He had killed the only person who could.

.

.

* * *

~End of The Chapter~

* * *

**Authoress's Rant:**

READ ON YOUR OWN RISK. Bashing-complaining-badmouthing.

DO NOT READ IF YOU LOVE THE ENDING OF THE SERIES.

We obviously know how unsatisfying the ending of Princess Tutu. She was not only turned back into duck, she also didn't get ANY of the boys. I know, I know, if it were continued Fakir would be the winner most likely for he could write his own happy ending. But it is NOT continued. BIG difference. HUGE.

In my opinion these are what went wrong with the characters:

Mytho was an *sshole for leaving Tutu after her ever present sacrifice for him. Egoistic jerk. Stupid betrayer of true love. Where was that noble prince we had been promised at the beginning? I hope you burn in hell. *CRYING A RIVER*

Tutu was an easy-to-be-swoon princess, almost as bad as a fangirl that we are. She was not us. I know how appealing Fakir was, but again, she was not us. She should not be THAT fickle. What was the curse for if she did not love The Prince's back? Screw the storyline and the magic and the logic.

Rue was nasty *ITCH who only remembered that she would do anything to get Mytho on her hands. She didn't even mind only to have a puppet made of Mytho. Someone please give her a dating game with Mytho in it, she would be really, really happy.

Fakir, well, nothing was wrong with Fakir except that he was a certified seducer with natural talent and sexy mysterious-dark-stranger aura oozing around him.

The real author tried to screw with our minds and hearts and morals.

Here the morals I got from the story:

1. The bad can turn to good within minutes of one last episode and managed to steal everything from the heroine, plus managed to escape without ANY punishment or karma., except for another few minutes inside uncomfortable belly of a giant bird.

2. Hearts are fickle and no one would be loyal to their partner, not even the legendary couple, especially if there are seducers with higher SEX appeals included. So please, never marry for love, you will be betrayed. Marry sex icons instead; Rue and Fakir were perfect example.

3. When you are a duck and given a chance to be a human to save a prince: REFUSE. You are only deceived and taken advantage of. Believe me. I tried.

4. The feelings that characters in the book had were not real because they were only written by the author, the characters' existence however were real although they were also written by the author. *uck Logic.

5. The characters do not and will not have their own free will. The real author was the one who decided everything. *uck the story. Don't believe me? Ask the writer in Japan!

I was only 13 for God's sake! I thought the story would be ended with happily ever after! It ruined my innocent mind and gave me a nightmare for eternity. Let me dream of true love again, please! I have been robbed of my naive mind for 7 years now! Return it to me at once!

The big jerk only wanted to make the story unforgettable for the twist.

I HATE YOU!

Curse you, curse you, CURSE YOU!

P.S.: Sorry that I made this story a little bit AU. I forgot the story and did not want to watch the nightmare all over again, so this fic was made with the memory of my 13 years old self back then. I made the necklace consisted of 3 pieces instead of one: Love, Happiness, Hope. Just change the episode of Love shard with Desire shard. Must be a hell of episode, if there were one. LOL.

"Tutu, let me make love to you."

"Eeep? My..Mytho!"

Bwahahahahahaha!

Reviews will be appreciated, flames will be flamed back, and healthy critiques of story and grammar will be taken notes of~

By the way, the song is Morning Grace of course. Raw translation from internet, but beautiful still.

Plus, change * with W and * with D to make them less offensive.


	2. The Three

"Even if I am burned in hell, secretly I still longs for heaven."

* * *

Chapter 2 The Prince's Lament, The Author's Vengeance and The Duck's Tears.

* * *

He was found by the patrolling soldiers in the morning, sprawled at the roof, , unconscious, exhausted from crying his pieces of heart out.

His chosen princess was aghast with worry, afraid that her "father" had been the one who caused such anguish in her prince's face. She didn't remember the saying "To love is to give the power to hurt you, but trusting them not to." So she didn't know that her prince was simply cursed by the one he loved the most.

The duck, the girl, the princess.

The tragic heroine.

The chosen princess' first friend and rival.

She did not know that, so she waited for him to wake up.

When he woke up, he was on his bed with his wife besides him, asleep.

It was already night.

A dream?

Was it only a dream?

He sighed in relief, but then he felt the need to make sure that it really had been a nightmare from his wildest fantasy. Only a nightmare. So he left a message for his wife and then he took off to visit his friend, the knight, the author, for his heart couldn't be calm until he knew his princess was alright, sleeping on her pond.

No such luck.

He found his friend at the pond, her pond; getting prepared to cut off his hand with his sword. The prince stopped him immediately, throwing the knight's sword down with his own sword, demanding to know what was wrong that pushed him to such drastic author did not say a word as he gave her letter to the prince, he did not have the strength or the will to speak after he crying all day long over her letter, especially not to him. No, not to him.

It was her letter, his beloved princess' letter, her last letter.

It had not been a dream.

He had prayed with all his soul, it had been one.

He was denied.

The letter was quite long for she felt really sorry for leaving and using the author like this. She wanted to explain everything to him, to her only knight, to her only hope and light after everyone had abandoned her. Those who she had saved, even her prince. She told him that she did not do it because she did not want to be with him, not because she did not love him, she did. Only her love was not the one he wanted it to be. At least not yet, but she was sure that she could had love him if she was given the time. She only didn't have the time to nurture that love.

She explained that while being a duck, she had nothing to do, nothing to make her mind forget the tragedy that had fallen on her, nothing for her to run to. She spoke of her darkest thoughts, of her wicked desire for sufferings upon the ones who caused her pain: her beloved prince and her most admired friend. How she wanted to scream-curse-torture-punish them for what they had done to her. She did not want to think like that; not in the thousand years, she'd rather die than having those thoughts especially about people she loved most, but she could not stop herself from having them on her mind. She was helpless. She lost her ballet, she lost her friends, she lost her school, she lost her love, she was stripped bare from everything that was the source of her joy and happiness. Her whole world.

Like a Cinderella when the clock stroke 12, only her prince did not come back for her.

When she had given the prince the last shards of his heart she had already known the future for her, yet she had given him those shards anyway. She thought she was strong enough to handle the pain, she thought she could sacrifice everything she had for other people's happiness, she thought she could handle being only a simple duck again. She was wrong.

Then she thought how it was not fair, that she couldn't get her happy ending despite everything she had done, how she was forgotten like a piece of trash, how nobody cared about her except him: her author, her black knight.

And for that she was forever grateful to him, and for that she asked him to live happily after she gone, to forget her, to love another again. She was just a duck after all. A broken one at that.

The pain did not stop.

When she was alone, she only had her thoughts to accompany her and it was too hard to see her pure heart to be dirtied by such dark thoughts by her own self. She needed to stop, she needed her ending.

Even if it was the tragic one.

.

.

The letter had not been meant for the prince's golden eyes. She did not want him to know, how low the duck had fallen. She said it in the last part of her letter, asking Fakir to hide the letter from the prince, to keep the content a secret between the two of them. The duck did not want to increase her prince's share of punishment, the author did. The knight who had sworn to help the prince was no more, he was now the author; the one whose love was taken from him by the prince even before it started. He had let her gone with his hands, his story. He was devastated that she had made him part of her murder while she had known how much he loved her. The author understood it was partly his fault, for he did not write a happy story for her immediately, for he failed to stop her pain from growing into deadly tumor, for he couldn't always be there with her to banish her demons. It was his punishment.

He howled into the night.

.

.

Meanwhile, the prince could only stand with the letter in his left hand and sword in his right, eyes wide opened. It was one thing to know his princess had really been gone, and another thing that she had gone while hating-cursing-loathing him with her heart, the same heart that had sacrificed everything for her love of him. The heart that he loved a minute too late.

He could handle her death as his punishment, even if it would take years to recover. He had lost her once when he had been Sigfried.

.

He had never received her hatred before. Not as Sigfried, not as Mytho.

Yet he held the very evidence of her contempt for him in his own hand.

'The words she spoke for her ending.

Did they ring true?

Or have I lost her love, her sweet precious love

Only to be left with her burning hatred?

I don't know anymore.

I don't have the right to know.

It is my punishment.'

If he was still able to cry, it would be blood that he cried out. Tears no longer capable to tell the severity of his sorrow and pain.

If he was still able to scream, he would scream until his voice lost forever to the abyss of hell.

He would, but he did not.

He could not.

His heart had been shattered the previous night with her death.

Tonight, tonight, it was crushed-grinded-pulverized into dust by her written words of scorn.

.

* * *

.

Her knight had been a sour, jaded, cruel person before she had entered his life; therefore, she knew how badly he would be hurting.

She wrote the words that she hoped would lessen his pain at the very end of her letter. She read them once in a book of a phantom whose heart melted into black with his love and longing for a singer because he was a ghost with ugly face who couldn't love her like a normal man. At the end, he gave her up after seeing her true love for another man as she agreed to be his living bride in exchange of his life.

"Even if I am burned in hell, secretly I still longs for heaven."

She understood him: the phantom, the ghost, the broken man.

He only loved her a little too much for his own good.

Her decision was no one's fault but her own heart's folly.

She hoped someday he understood.

At her last moment, she had been pure again, even if she had gone through her last days as a black-hearted ugly duck. Her every last words were as true as the existence of love itself. Her prince's presence and love beside her had been her salvation, her heaven. She knew this. She was only too weak to step back to her own hell: her mind and her tainted heart; after a taste of being back in the only heaven she longed to be in. She wanted to be pure until the end of her story and without her prince's whole love the only way was to put an end on it.

So she did.

She had loved him right until the very last second, wishing for his happiness after he got over her punishment for him. The punishment was meant for them both: for not being able to be selfish for once to see what they really wanted. His punishment should had been a simple pain of losing a dear friend while hers, the pain of conducting the punishment itself on him.

She didn't mean to condemn him to pain beyond measure for eternity, torn between her love and her hatred for him, for both were true in her heart until she saw him that night.

She only wanted to return the heartache to him.

A pain of broken heart. Of losing something precious that never been appreciated. Not the pain of being loathed by the only one he had loved with all his heart; the only one he had given the ability to tore his beating heart out with a single word of hate.

.

* * *

.

Karma kept the tabs of every actions of living things.

As Sigfried, he did not allow himself to tell her about his feelings. He was afraid of being happy while his most trusted knight had fallen and his country had suffered. He did not realize he hurt her with uncertainty of his feelings for her. He did not realize the curse that she bore.

She was also young back then. His treatment of her, with pleasant politeness no longer comforted her, it tortured her. She did not know what they were to each other; friends, allies, siblings, confidants, lovers. With the presence of the other princess, she felt the need to prove her love to him once and for all, so she braved death for him. She said the words.

After she gone, he gave up his heart to seal the monster.

He was punished to wait a hundred years for her, living a life of a doll; drifting from place to place without any destination. Immortal in his youth.

A walking dead.

As Mytho, he did not have his past memories for they were locked in his shattered heart. The beginning of his new memory started with the presence of his reincarnated knight and the black princess. Familiar souls.

When he met her again for the first time, he felt something in his soul for the first time after so long. A feeling that he did not have a name for as he did not have the heart to do so. He brushed the feeling off to the back of his mind after 5 shards that she gave still unable to tell him the name and left him even more confused.

She did not have her past feeling or memories. She did not even know their story at first, unlike his knight that came to him with the knowledge of his role.

Yet she still came to him and helped him to regain himself.

She loved him even then. Her soul knew she loved him. She knew it all along.

Even after she knew her own cursed ending.

* * *

.

Yet.

His rashness, his misjudgement, his inability to see.

Until she was stripped of her rank as a princess into a helpless duck in front of him.

He had understood his heart pieces had given her special power, his logic told him that much.

But, he had thought she only would had been reduced to her human form.

How should he had known that his princess' soul was trapped in the body of a duck?

She had been a princess cursed to be a swan.

She was a duck magicked into a human princess.

She had been too rash to prove her love for him.

He was too rash to declare his love for another.

* * *

.

Hope. Happiness. Love.

The previous author just made a set of paths for them, they chose their own path.

He was tested and he failed.

He didn't deserve The Three in his previous life.

He had given up hope to defeat the raven by surrendering.

He had given up happiness with the death of his knight and others.

He had given up love in the name of fear.

.

Thus, fate gave her the three pieces of his heart as the symbol of her life to let her decide his worth and fate.

At the end, the combination of her love for him and her purity forced her to gave The Three to him.

She passed her test.

Even with the additional burden from the prince's failure to pass his.

.

His sins multiplied in his ignorance of her pain.

Of one that had been so pure that always put everyone's happiness before her own.

Even Eve had been cast out from heaven for one single ignorant mistake.

Who was he to avoid The Judgement?

Thinking back it made perfect sense. When she returned his Fear, he had been scared of her. He had not been scared of the knight or the others.

He had not understood then that he would always fear her for she was his greatest tormentor: his love.

The one whom he had willingly given the power to tear him with pain so deep, it was invisible.

The prince stopped reading the letter as her last words came back to him like a broken recorder.

He did not understand her change of feelings

He did not understand her last words in the letter

He just wanted, no, needed to be punished.

So he lived.

With and at the same time without his heart.

.

Welcome to hell.

* * *

**Authoress' note:** *sigh* second chapter, and I am thoroughly confused with the fourth. I don't want to make them OOC but I can't help being so disgustingly fluffy when it comes to this pairing. Review~


	3. The Ending And Beginning

"They lived happily ever after."

* * *

Chapter 3 The Ending and The Beginning of Cycles

* * *

After that night, he returned to his castle only to order a royal funeral to be held in his kingdom the next day. _For her_. It was a grand funeral, filled with hundred of colorful flowers, thousands of people and a full orchestra.

A white coffin carved with the most intricate details with a royal swan painted in gold on the lid was becoming the center of the ceremony. Of course, it was empty, aside for a tiny little box, there was no body there. She had vanished after all, the only remaining of her was a white feather that she had given to Fakir. The author refused to bury it.

The funny thing was the ceremony was more fitting to be a wedding instead of a funeral.

Perhaps it was.

Only the bride was dead and the groom had said "I do" to another bride a month before.

It would had been a beautiful wedding.

.

Too late.

.

* * *

Fakir was there, holding her last gift close to his heart. Mourning for their almost love. Perhaps her love for him wouldn't had been as strong as her love for the prince, but they could had started over with a new story: their story. "The Duck and The Knight."

He would had courted her properly, proposed to her in the most romantic way she wanted it to be, showered her with affection she needed and made her borne his children. If the prince didn't want her in this lifetime, then why she didn't give him a chance to be with her for once?

They could had been happy.

She denied happiness for both of them

She wanted to simply vanished with her almost-tainted-heart.

The author couldn't make the dead came back to life. It was only Fate who could.

He walked through the stairs to where her coffin was. He closed his eyes solemnly while putting his right hand back above his heart with her feather in it and his left hand of the coffin. After betraying her trust last night, by handing the prince her letter and by wanting to cut his arms and follow her to death, it was the last thing he could do for her. His duck.

Everyone was silenced.

"I swear..."

Words of oath to fulfill all her wishes that she asked of him filled the palace's garden. He only added one of his own: a knight's promise of loyalty and protection for her if she ever given the chance by fate to live. With that, he kissed her coffin like he would do to her as his bride.

The silence continued for a moment of respect as the sorrowful music was played to accompany the prayer for their savior.

The savior that they had abandoned in her helplessness.

It was a good thing for them that burden of their sin would be shared among fellow common sinners .

Very good indeed.

The burial procession then started.

* * *

Meanwhile, the unknowing princess did not know what to feel. Rue was sad to know that her only friend had chosen to fulfill her ending, but she was more worried about her prince who looked as empty as he had been before he gained a heart. She thought he needed her love to heal, to recover from loss of a dear friend, his savior who had returned his heart when nobody else cared. So she stood by his side wearing her black veil.

She mourned for the one who left and the ones who were left behind.

.

She should had mourned for herself.

.

For Karma knew what she had done before, how tainted black her heart had been.

Everyone could choose their own path, either good or bad. No matter what their circumstances were.

* * *

Poor people could choose to work honestly until they died for small amount of money and they also could choose to steal-kill-deceive other people to live in luxury. -Greed

Abused souls could choose to stand tall and prevent other people to suffer their fate and they could also choose to abuse other people for their pleasure of revenge. -Wrath

Jealous hearts could choose to improve themselves and they could choose to backstab-destroy-badmouth those better ones.-Envy

Denied lovers could choose to love their loved ones in a different way or they could just force those they claimed to love to submit to their will. –Lust

Sinners could admit their sins while asking for forgiveness-repentance-punishment and they could also close their eyes from their faults and weakness- admit of no wrong. -Pride

Capable bodies could choose to use their own power to fulfill their needs and they could also choose to beg from others to fulfill their needs for them.-Sloth

Prosper families could choose to share their wealth with others and they could also choose to use everything strictly for their own satisfaction.-Gluttony

* * *

Her obsession with the prince had led her heart astray.

She wouldn't had been tainted by raven's blood if she had chosen to be good.

She could had just disobeyed her father's order to do something bad.

Yet she coveted the prince with possessive-obsessive-jealous emotions and her father offered him for her in exchange of her obedience.

She chose her path.

She only had sacrificed herself at the end because she had known her father truly would not had given her the prince after all.

She could had shown her repentance, if only she had said "I do not" and let go her sole object that blinded her at the first place.

If only she had been caring enough to ask the prince's feeling for her before the wedding, for he never said he loved her. He couldn't had.

That part of him had been with Tutu at the time.

His exact words were "If possible, I desire to make Rue my princess."

Where was the love?

Yet the words had bound him to her.

He was practically her suitor-turned-prisoner after he got his heart back.

She could had also asked for her so-called-friend's heart for the prince, for even as a duck she still could nod or shake her tiny head.

That was if she really cared.

About the prince and the duck.

So Karma decided her punishment, for her previous and current lives, fortunately she was still granted an end. Unlike the prince.

At least the pain would stop.

For several lifetimes.

.

* * *

.

And The Prince.

The Living Groom for the day.

"Until death do us apart"

The vow was broken as soon as it was out of his mouth. For The Bride was no longer in the world of the living even days before The Wedding. He stood there, watching from above with his out-of-the-place white suit. On his ring finger laid a single golden band; its match buried 6 feet-down under, never touched the skin of its supposed-to-be wearer. It was so similar to the one that he had worn until last night, but it was engraved with The Bride's name instead.

He wanted to be selfish now, he wanted to stop sacrificing himself for others.

He could had stopped The Tragedy, if he had let himself to be cruel for once.

He would had stayed by The Bride's side, even if she couldn't escape her body.

They would had been married, without caring about their different nature as duck and human, without caring about heirs, without caring about his kingdom.

If only they had not cared about the rest of the world and had been honest with their hearts.

.

"They lived happily ever after."

.

What would he give to get a chance to have those simple words written in the end of Their Story.

He stood there for longest time, with eyes so empty that it was almost too sad to be even imagined.

* * *

These characters had not yet known their own endings for this cycle. Thus, they said their forever goodbyes to her with at least amicable way.

* * *

The Author lived true to his oath. He tried to be happy again, he tried to forget her, he tried to love again. Although he never wrote again, he tried to find his own happiness in his dancing and became a teacher at their old school. Then, he found a girl with fire inside her soul, matching his own fiery spirit.

At first they bickered, challenged each other, and finally they fell in love with one and another. He died as an old man with three children and a handful of grandchildren. He lived happily and died peacefully just like his duck's wishes.

* * *

The Prince was at first unaware of his continued immortality. He grieved for a year and then got back to his obligations managing his kingdom. The Black Princess though, suffered due to his treatment of her. He would still smile at her, talk to her and accompany her through stately events and ceremonies, yet he never visited their room any longer.

At first she thought it was his grieve for a friend that had loved him that made him like that. Guilt, perhaps, because she died in front of him by telling him of her love. She tried to console him, to make him forget about the past, to love her once more.

She did not know that he never loved her at the first place, he did truly love 'the friend' that had died due to feelings of love for him, that he had divorced her in his mind on the day of The Funeral but still let her had the position, the royalty benefits and the friendly term of his company.

She was becoming insecure then, doubting his love for her and fearing rivalry between herself and a dead duck all over again. So she confronted her husband one night; demanding to know his feelings for her and the duck. She had finally asked so he told her.

.

First strike.

.

After that night she no longer cared for his love, she refused to compete with a dead duck for his love again and again; she feared more for her position. It was a kingdom after all, if she could not provide an heir she would be eliminated from being a princess. No matter what the prince assured her of her position, the people would riot against her. She tried to seduce him, tempt him into her bed, only to end up in failure. She tried to preassure him with the obligation of giving an heir for his kingdom, but he still returned to his own room, never spared a glance on her.

Yet after 10 years, the whole kingdom realized the state of The Prince's ever present youth. He was supposed to be 26 by now, yet nothing had changed about him. As long as The Prince could not die, they didn't need another heir to the kingdom. With that, The Black Princess lost her support to the joining of the royal couple for an heir. The people no longer respected her as a princess, for she was no use to them, even The Prince had been rumored to no longer favor her.

She became more and more disturbed with the past of each year. The stares she received from the servants, the nobles, the people had been cruel and unnerving. She was also growing older and older while The Prince did not. When they went together side by side, they looked like a couple, then brother & sister, and lastly mother & son. She turned to be more obsessed with her looks, with his youth. One day when she looked in the mirror and saw how old she was without her mask compared to The Prince.

.

Second strike.

.

She cracked.

She wanted him to die for robbing her of her happiness and life. So for one last time, she tried to stab The Prince when he was asleep, yet The Prince's wound healed as soon as the blade grazed his skin. The Prince could only look at her with disbelief as the guards took her away from him. For the attempt of killing the royal, she should had been sentenced to death by hanging but The Prince pitied her state and commanded The Black Princess to be sent to the exile instead: in the mountain at the border of the kingdom. On her journey to her new place, people showered her with stones, rotten fruits, dirty water, stabbing words.

.

Third strike.

.

She was no more.

She killed herself at the end by jumping from the cliff. Her once beautiful face destroyed by the force of the gravity towards the surface of the earth.

At least she was granted her ending.

* * *

.

Another one hundred years passed for The Prince.

Stuck in his immortality and his kingdom.

Silver locks framed his ever present young face with his sorrowful golden eyes.

His curse was said would be ended when his heart returned as whole.

He never thought that his heart would never be completed without the last piece:

Her Love.

.

It was hard for The Prince to keep living for another hundred years.

Before, he had lost his heart so he had been unable to feel pain.

Compared to this, it had been really easy for him to be the puppet, the doll.

Now he had to live while doing his duty to his kingdom, while regretting of the past everyday, while breaking yet another heart, while yearning for The Bride as his heart was broken and whole at the same time.

If there was a hell on earth, he would be burn within it everyday.

.

The world he lived in had changed drastically. People no longer believed in magic. Books and stories about them were considered as fiction; something that was not real. There was no longer animals that lived independently and equally as humans; their place was limited to the zoo or the wild or in the houses as domestic pets. No longer could they walk hand in hand with humans. People nature too had changed dramatically, many of them were filled with seven deadly sins; only small numbers of human that survived without being corrupted in them.

His kingdom, luckily, had striven among the new world. It had survived several wars, natural disasters and other disturbances. He was still their ruler, but he had to hide his immortal state due to changing circumstances in their world. The knowledge of him and his curse was limited among the higher-ups in his kingdom and was passed through generation after generation. He had taken an orphan child to pose as his child and the next ruler with few conditions: that he would always do what he asked and he would only may father one child as the next heir. He didn't need another complication in ruling his kingdom such as power struggle among posers.

His raven blood was proved to be useful in the times of wars. He became cunning, and almost cruel when he wanted to protect things that were precious to him. His kingdom might be small, yet the power that it yielded among other countries was beyond significant. The rulers of other countries knew rumors about him, The Prince who would not age or die. They feared him for what he was in their eyes: a monster. Few knew about the truth of his nature, even more fewer the ones who knew his face and appearance.

He kept searching for his princess' existence throughout the years; hoping there would be a new cycle for him to seek his ending. Every time he saw a girl with sunset hair, he would chase after her, only to find each time the girl was not The Bride. He was even more worried in the times of war, afraid that he would be too late again to save her, that he would only find her lifeless body on the street, full of blood. Thankfully, the bodies he found were never hers. Another part of his worry was if she had been born as a duck once more, there would be no way to know which one was her if that was the case.

So he waited and searched still for The Bride to wear his ring, to repeat his vow and to live happily with him.

For a hundred years.

With his kingdom's power, he managed to place his people across the world to find her. The technology in the current era had let him maintaining flows of information between countries within seconds. He also searched for her by himself in his kingdom; walking from one region to another and coming back to his palace once in a month to make sure everything under control. Currently, he was on one of his little trips to the outskirt of his kingdom.

She was there.

Laughing happily with her friends while running as freely as the wind.

He could only stand still as if the clock stopped for a magical moment.

He did not know what to do.

Without realizing it, glittering tears had made their ways in his face.

Finally.

The Bride was alive.

His punishment had ended.

A new cycle started once again.

.

Thank God.

.

* * *

Authoress's Note: I forgot to check on reviews when I uploaded the second chapter. So now, here is my response:

To: Peter, chapter 1

Yes, yes...I am cruel...but I think the real author far more cruel than me. Somehow...Thanks for the review.

To:Emey Troy, chapter 1

The sad thing is...I would have been a Fakir-Tutu fan also if the ending was right. I know how Fakir loved Tutu with his melted-ice heart... that is why I can't be cruel to him. He was, after all, the last one who stayed with Tutu at the end. I am truly thankful for it. Still though, it needs a lot of courage to read fiction that supports other than your favorite pairing. I still can't read Fakir-Ahiru fic no matter how I supported them until I watched the final episode. You are truly brave to consider this possibility.

To:spocketlaine, chapter 2

I am truly grateful for your lengthy review. It encourages me to know that there is someone out there who truly enjoyed my writing. This is my first story after all...so I didn't expect anyone would really like it. I am originally not a writer, but more like an actress-in-training; therefore, it's kind of hard to continue the story like I wanted to. I knew how to pour each character's heart, but I have no way in creating a scenario for them or dialogues for that matter. I could make a storyline, but I do not know how to make it flow without getting too sweet and fluffy or getting too fast-paced. You are also the first person who cried reading this story. Thank you. Really,really, really thank you.

To:Acumichi, chapter 2

Thank you, Acumichi for reading this fiction and reviewing it. I am glad that you like it. I will try to write more...I have the concept in my mind how they will interact in this new world, but I am really helpless in deciding its pace and dialogues. I still will try though, even it takes me forever to complete. I hope this third chapter will satisfy you for quite sometime...

To:kohiookami2, chapter 2

Hello there, kohiookami2. No, it's not bad to cry. I, myself, cried when writing this story. Although it was because how different it is to 'the ending'. This story itself is my salvation, an ending that I can accept in my heart and my head. I hope it could be one for you too. Thank you for feeling for this story.

To:DRAGON, chapter 2

I am sorry if this is not what you expected, DRAGON. For me this fiction can end things that did not end in the real series. I am sorry if you do not feel the same. I am also sorry I can't give Fakir a tragic demise like you wanted, because for me he was not at fault at all... Nothing major anyway. He was also the one staying at the end. He was the one who made our ending 'not completely tragic'. I am thankful for him although in Tutu's position I would not be able to love him after such a shock at the final episode. You guessed right though, for that *****'s ending. I still hate her after all.

* * *

Well, if there is anyone who would want to help me in commenting and reviewing the continuation before I post it, please tell me. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I treasure all of you, readers. Once again thank you.


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